Typhoons and Attitudes

So, there was a typhoon yesterday. Nothing much happened other than everyone continuing work as usual. That’s all well and good if you have a car, but they had students come in too. Now, I’m not going to get into the cultural significance of teachers coming into work and kids being forced to bike to during a typhoon, only to be sent home an hour later and be expected to bike home with the typhoon worsening, but it’s something ridiculous.


The vice principal was supposed to decide if teachers would be able to go home without having to take nenkyuu, but they weren’t fooled. He used the Japanese equivalent of, “….I’ll think about it.” Yeah…those teachers weren’t going home without taking a vacation day. A lot of teachers did take paid holiday, but I don’t think that should have been necessary. However, there were enough teachers who, believe it or not, didn’t want to go home, but I don’t think they were part of the reason why the vice principal made teachers take paid holiday just to go home during a typhoon.


One of those people is one of the English teachers, the most progressive one. She told me and everyone else in the office that even if she had the opportunity to go home early, she isn’t going to go. She would never go home early. Why, you ask? According to her, her kids are too difficult to deal with and she could never do things that she wants to do…..whaaat!? So, she doesn’t want to go home because then she’d have to take care of her own kids…..and what’s wrong with that? It was the same thing with the kids; some of them didn’t want to go home and would rather hang out with their friends at school. Based on one of the previous posts, I inadvertently ended up finding out why young kids don’t like going home because it’s either too awkward or, like I heard from one of my English contest students, “There’s nothing to do.” I don’t think I’ll ever understand that.


I suppose I can kind of understand where the teacher is coming from, about her raising her kids is difficult so she wouldn’t want to go home early. I just can’t understand how she can say that so casually to the other males in the office without thinking twice about it. The men laughed about it, but little do they know that their wives are feeling the exact same way lol.

Then she’s going to turn around and complain to me that she has too much work. She was always slightly frustrated at the fact that other English teachers are able to go home at 5 sharp, and why she never seems to be able to. She said that because she’s been in our office the longest that she has the most information, so everyone asks her questions. She finds herself helping everyone else with everything during the day, while she’s staying until 7, 8 o’clock finishing her own work. Once again I get the true feelings of another Japanese person just because I’m not Japanese. Since I’ve been given that privilege again, I take the opportunity and tell her honestly that she’s stretching herself too far for people that just want you to do their work for them. She’s like most women in whom they’ll do anything and everything for people, sometimes without even asking, just so people will talk positively about them. After all, rude chicks don’t get husbands ;-).

While she’s already married with children, it seems as though she can’t shake that off and she finds herself doing everyone else favors. I told her that she start saying no and not think twice about it. Now, I shouldn’t have to tell a 33 year old mother of three about these things but it seems as though she’s never been told things like that. Well…I’ll be more than happy to let her know. ^_^